Google Home just released another service that makes it easier than ever to never leave your couch. With Home, you can now buy everything from picture frames to carrots through simple voice commands. This was an inevitable next step and something Alexa already supports for Prime members. Although Home’s implementation works, it’s very limited and doesn’t make sense (financially) for most people.
What it is and what you need
Shopping through Google Home is a service that allows you to order products using your voice. The command is very simple:
“Buy <product> from <store>”
- “OK Google, how do I shop?”
- “OK Google, order apples.”
- “OK Google, buy a Google Home.”
- “OK Google, reorder peanut butter.”
If you don’t define the store, Google will give you some options or look at your history. Easy enough. But, how does it work and with what stores?
To get started, you need to..
- Setup a payment method in your Google account. Every time you shop, it will automatically use this for billing/shipping.
- Setup a membership with Google Express. This is the ‘mall’ you’ll be buying everything from. Within that mall will be various shops like Whole Foods and Costco.
Membership is $95/year or $10/month. This includes free shipping from SOME of the stores.
Once you’re setup, just start shopping with voice commands. NOTE: Currently you can only buy or re-order a single item at a time. YES, only one at a time. Horrible, I know. This is one reason I’m waiting before I consider joining Google Express.
That’s pretty much it.
Let’s be honest. This product is not quite there yet. When I can order a lot of stuff at one time, then maybe it starts making more sense. I just can’t pull the trigger on a new membership that doesn’t have a robust service. It’ll get better :)
For more info, visit Google Express / Home Help.
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